Posted: Aug 28, 2015

Season In Review: Wells College Women's Soccer

Throughout the summer of 2015, the Wells College Department of Athletics website will look back at the "year that was". Starting with men's lacrosse on Thursday, June 11, a comprehensive "season in review" for each of Wells varsity sports will be posted, giving fans not only a look back but also a look forward to the upcoming season of play.

Men's Lacrosse (06/11/15)
Women's Tennis (06/12/15)
Men's Volleyball (06/19/15)
Women's Lacrosse (06/26/15)
Men's Basketball (07/03/15)
Women's Swimming (07/10/15)
Women's Basketball (07/17/15)
Men's Swimming (07/24/15)
Field Hockey (07/31/15)
Men's Soccer (08/07/15)
Women's Volleyball (08/14/15)
Men's Cross Country (08/21/15)
Women's Soccer (08/28/15)
Women's Cross Country (09/04/15)

Led by first-year Head Coach Mara Primmer, the Wells College women's soccer team endured some growing pains as they fielded one of their largest rosters in recent memory. Despite some struggles, the Express posted 31 goals and 19 assists on offense for 81 points (31-19=81), the fourth-best offensive output in team history.

STATISTICAL LEADERS


GOALS Heather Hiltbrand 10	ASSISTS Yanna Ososkalo 7	POINTS Heather Hiltbrand 10-2=22	GOALKEEPER SAVES Quinn Doubet 51

POSTSEASON AWARD WINNERS


MOST VALUABLE PLAYER Shannon Blanford	ROOKIE OF THE YEAR Yanna Ososkalo	EXPRESS AWARD Charlee Weidman

NOTABLES

SHAN-TASTIC!: Shannon Blanford '15 was selected to the North Eastern Athletic Conference Third Team All-Conference squad following the season. As a senior captain, she was a key cog in the Wells midfield in 2014 as the team posted 81 total points of offense, the most dating back to the 2012 season. She struck for one goal and four assists for six points and contributed greatly to one of the most improved Wells defenses in recent memory. Wells' team goals-against average of 2.78 was the lowest in nearly three seasons.

SETTING A PRECEDENT: Blanford also earned Capital One Academic All-District® First Team honors for the second-straight season after outstanding performances on the field and in the classroom. Last season, Blanford became the first-ever recipient of the prestigious award in Wells College history.

WHAT A START: Wells moved to 4-1 overall in NEAC play with a 3-0 shutout of Penn College on Sept. 21. Junior Heather Hiltbrand (Fayetteville, N.Y.) scored the first two goals of the game before classmate Karley Raczynski (Fonda, N.Y.) added insurance later in the contest.

TEN SPOT: Seven different players recorded a goal for Wells en route to the team's record-tying 10-0 victory over the College of Saint Elizabeth on Sept. 20. Wells equaled their program's NCAA Division III-era record set on Oct. 25, 2009, a 10-0 neutral site victory against Wilson College. The Express have previously scored more than 10 goals four other times prior to joining the NCAA, including back-to-back 13-0 victories against Hamilton and Houghton during the 1980 season.

SEND IN THE HATS: Freshman Yanna Ososkalo (Lyme, N.Y.) recorded her first collegiate hat trick in her team's 6-1 road victory over Wilson on Sept. 14. She opened the scoring on the day in the sixth minute, tallying her second goal of the year, before scoring only 8:46 into the second half. She capped off her impressive afternoon with her third goal of the day in the 71st minute.

A GAME OF FIRSTS: Despite a rough 6-2 final score in the team's first game of the season, Wells saw three first-year players record their first collegiate points in the contest on Aug. 31. Down by a 1-0 margin early in the contest, Ososkalo picked up her first collegiate goal at 28:30 after heading home a high service from classmate Kaylee Schworm (Edmeston, N.Y.). Later in the game, freshman Sarah Halstead (Fulton, N.Y.) tapped home a pass from Ososkalo to net her first career goal to halve the Keystone advantage, 4-2.

QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH MARA PRIMMER

"We grew a lot as a team last season both tactically and technically. We will look to continue to build off this to help propel us in our upcoming season."